Optimism oozed.
Jets fans arrived early and they even sung along to the national anthem as Robert Saleh had publicly urged on Friday.
The Jets coach craved for the season opener to be electric and there, indeed, was an electricity in the September air that came with the arrival of so much new talent on the roster.
This Jets team was going to be so much better than it’s been for the past few (OK, too many) years because of that infusion of talent — both young and established.
And yet there the sober reality read on the illuminated MetLife Stadium scoreboards by late afternoon: Ravens 24, Jets 9.
Groundhog Day in September. More losing for a franchise that’s produced 27 wins in the past six seasons and has won just one season opener in that span.
The most disappointing element to the day: So many of those newcomers were key contributors to the sloppy loss.
There was kicker Greg Zuerlein, nicknamed “Greg the Leg’’ for his powerful right leg that’s produced field goals of 58, 59, 60 and 61 yards in a 152-game NFL career, giving away four points against a team the Jets absolutely could not afford to offer charity.
With the Jets trailing 3-0 in the second quarter and their offense struggling, Zuerlein, who entered this season with an 82.2 percent success rate on field goals and 95.8 percent on extra points, hooked his first field-goal attempt as a Jet left from 45 yards out and later missed an extra point.
Tyler Conklin fumbles in the second quarter. Charles WenzelbergThere was tight end Tyler Conklin, who was brought here to bolster a position that’s been an utter dead zone for the team in recent years, fumbling the ball backwards after making a 6-yard catch on third-and-5 to seemingly keep a potential touchdown drive alive and instead forcing the Jets to settle for a field goal in the second quarter.
There was safety Jordan Whitehead, who was signed away from Tampa Bay after he was part of a Super Bowl champion there, losing track of receiver Devin Duvernay in the end zone on a 17-yard Lamar Jackson scoring pass on third-and-10 for a 17-3 Baltimore lead in the third quarter.
There was rookie running back Breece Hall, who fumbled just three times in 800 career touches at Iowa State, fumbling away the ball at the Baltimore 16-yard line three plays into the fourth quarter trailing 24-3.
Breece Hall fumbles in the fourth quarter. Charles WenzelbergThen there was tight end C.J. Uzomah, signed after he helped the Bengals get to the Super Bowl last season while making 49 receptions for 493 yards and scoring five touchdowns, in witness protection. He was barely on the field and not targeted on a single one of Joe Flacco’s 59 pass attempts.
So much for the tight ends being “a quarterback’s best friend’’ when under the kind of pass-rush duress Flacco was for much of the day. Uzomah was 0-for-0 and Conklin had three receptions for 11 yards and the fumble before catching a 3-yard TD with a minute remaining in a 24-3 game.
“I know everybody’s thinking, ‘Same old s—,” Conklin said. “It’s not the same old s—. We’ve got a good team. Everybody can feel it. We have good players. We have good coaches. We’re going to be all right.’’
They’ve got to prove it. Until they do, it will remain the same old … well, you know.
To the credit of most of the newcomer culprits, they were accountable for their respective roles in the loss.
“I had a fumble on third-and-5 in the red zone and that could have been a touchdown,’’ Conklin said. “I don’t care if it was raining or it was a good [defensive play], you just can’t do s— like that — especially in the red zone. You don’t want to let your team down like that. When you do it, it hurts. You’re just to look yourself in the mirror and make sure it doesn’t happen again.’’
C.J. Uzomah reacts during the Jets’ loss to the Ravens. Getty ImagesHall, too, lamented his gaffe.
“The coaches always preach to me that after you break one [tackle], somebody else is coming to punch it,’’ he said. “It’s just a learning experience that I have to take to the next game, because I know I’m going to break more tackles and get more catches. It’s very frustrating. I’m not used to it. I don’t usually do it. I don’t accept it.
“I’m going to watch the film. It’s going to hurt, but I’m going to have to have amnesia going into next week. It won’t happen again.’’
Until the things that happened on Sunday to curb the enthusiasm of this franchise and its fan base so starved for success actually do stop happening, the Jets will be continue to live with a credibility issue.
It’s on them to change it.
